Responders conduct drill at Burger King

Commercial building offers rare chance pre-demolition

A unique opportunity for hands-on training for the community's emergency responders was provided recently through cooperative efforts involving the City of Port Jervis, its volunteer fire department and Carrols LLC.

A unique opportunity for hands-on training for the community's emergency responders was provided recently through cooperative efforts involving the City of Port Jervis, its volunteer fire department and Carrols LLC.

Dozens took part in a multi-purpose drill conducted Oct. 16 at Port Jervis' Burger King restaurant, at 100 Pike St., just days before it was demolished.

Port Jervis Fire Department Chief Jeffrey Rhoades praised CEO Rick Bross for his assistance in providing a rare opportunity to train in a commercial building. Rhoades said that residential and commercial responses are different in the challenges they present, and any chance to experience such differences firsthand could help save lives and property.

"A commercial building provides us with different exposures than a residential building, and I personally do not recall having a chance to conduct such an exercise in the past," Rhoades said.

Rhoades said that unlike residential structures, which are typically constructed of wood, sheetrock, plaster, glass and wooden beams, commercial buildings may have concrete walls, steel beams, flat roofs containing metal and thicker membranes, and other features not found in typical residential calls.

The drill gave local responders a chance to practice forcible entry on locked and blocked doors and walls, breaching walls, ventilating Burger King's roof type and composition, and search and rescues in a smoke-filled

building.

Rhoades noted it was also a good opportunity to test out the radio system, sync high band with low band, find and fix things that might not be working perfectly, and use handheld Scott Pak-Tracker Firefighter Locator System devices to find a missing firefighter.

Scott Pak-Trackers operate on high-frequency radio waves that penetrate dense smoke and concrete barriers without scattering or blocking a signal as ultrasonic or infrared systems might.

"We would never want to be in a situation where we had a missing responder, but this gave individual search crews a chance to see how Pak-Trackers help in situations such as this drill involved," Rhoades said. "We are grateful for this excellent opportunity."

The building has since been demolished and is being rebuilt to open at the same location in the near future.